[2014 funding has increased 350% in deal size mainly due to large investments in Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, Lending Club, and BlaBlaCar]

Exactly one year ago, the average funding amount was $29m. In July 2013, I surveyed a sample of 200 startups (read full report). I found that 37% had been funded, with startups receiving an average of $29 million in funding. The 200 had received over $2 billion in total funding, which is a very high amount for a largely undeveloped, pioneer market. Interviews with several of the Venture Capitalists in this space indicated that they favor two-sided marketplaces that are scalable and have low inventory costs

[In 2013, average funding was $29 million. In 2014, the average funding amount is $102 million due to outliers, like Uber, receiving over $1.2 billion]

In the first half of 2014, the average funding amount, is a whopping $102 million. The findings are stunning. I’ve not seen this much investment in tech startups for some time. Some data highlights: In seven short months, there’s been at least 24 distinct funding instances of at least $1 million or more in investment funding. Of those, Uber received the lion’s share of a whopping $1.2 billion in investment for global growth and product expansion. On average, $102 million is the common amount, but if you strip off the Uber investment, Airbnb, Lyft, and Lending Club are lower in investment amount, bringing the average closer to $52 million, which is still very high.

Last Seven Months of Collaborative Economy Funding by Amount
Above image is the same data.

Uber

$1,200,000,000

Airbnb

$500,000,000

Lyft

$250,000,000

LendingClub

$115,000,000

BlaBlaCar

$100,000,000

Prosper

$70,000,000

Instacart

$44,000,000

Hailo

$26,500,000

OurCrowd

$25,000,000

RelayRide

$25,000,000

Zopa

$22,700,000

Postmates

$16,000,000

CircleUp

$14,000,000

MakeSpace

$8,000,000

Storefront

$7,300,000

Pley

$6,800,000

SkillShare

$6,100,000

Yerdle

$5,000,000

Traity

$4,700,000

Deliv

$4,500,000

Pivotdesk

$3,600,000

Sidecar

$3,100,000

Cargomatic

$2,600,000

Scoot

$2,300,000

Sidecar

$1,000,000

Data Summary

Total investments from in last seven months: 24

Average deals per month in 2014: 3.4

Average funding amount in June 2013 study: $29 million

Average funding amount in last Jan-July 3, 2014: $102.6 million

Median funding in last seven months: $14 million

Average Funding Amount (excluding Uber) in last seven months: $52.6 million

Total Amount of Funding in last seven months: $2.46 billion

Increase in funding amount per investment in 12 months: 351%

Conclusion: Investors love the Collaborative Economy – But will it bust?So, why are investors betting big on the Collaborative Economy? These scalable business models run on top of highly adopted social and mobile technologies. They offer a high frequency of transactions, with low operating costs. They are also disrupting traditional corporate business models, as they are more efficient by leveraging internet of everything, mobile devices, apps, and payment platforms. Neal Gorenflo reminded me that these startups cause the incumbents to wail in the media, creating incredible low cost PR value, which in turn attracts more customers.

In summary: Investors expect these startups to be highly profitable and are betting down big.